Izvještaji za Medije

Fraud Office looks into British energy firm's role in Balkans

Izvještaji za Medije ● 11 Jula 2006

Company denies any wrongdoing as investigators follow up special audit report ordered by Bosnian administrator Lord Ashdown

David Leigh and Rob Evans
Tuesday February 15, 2005
The Guardian

A British energy company has been accused of exploiting poverty-stricken countries in the Balkans and is being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office for alleged corruption, the Guardian can disclose.

This is the first significant attempt by the SFO to enforce the anti-bribery law, introduced three years ago, which has not yet led to a prosecution. If it brings charges, they could be tried in either London or Bosnia.

The company denies breaking the law and says it is the victim of political in-fighting, It says it has suffered “misstatements, innuendos and false allegations” in a special auditors’ report.

EFT Ltd is an electricity trading enterprise with its headquarters in Wigmore Street, London. It is alleged to have gained a stranglehold on power deals and dam-building projects in Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro.

The UN's High Representative in Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, claims that possible corruption by politicians in the region may be helping to finance renegade war criminals, and he is determined to stamp any such corruption out.

He commissioned a series of special audits which allege that kickbacks may have been solicited by state power company officials to write advantageous electricity-swap contracts with private companies.

“The public utilities have been used as cash cows to line the pockets of politicians and others,” Lord Ashdown told the Guardian. He has dismissed the head of the Republika Srbska state power company for mismanagement. “I have no doubt that illegal, corrupt money is used to protect war criminals,” he said.

There are 18 major suspected war criminals at large, including the Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, indicted for incidents of genocide, including the massacre in 1995 of 8,000 Muslims at Srebenica, and Radovan Karadzic, the one-time Bosnian Serb president. EFT is not accused by the auditors of being involved with war criminals, and it denies paying kickbacks. The report called for its contractual relationships with the state company to be investigated.

First global convention against corruption to enter into force

Izvještaji za Medije ● 10 Jula 2006

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First global convention against corruption to enter into force

Romania : Romanian government opens police corruption hot line

Izvještaji za Medije ● 10 Jula 2006

Romania is struggling to reduce corruption , which affects all walks of life and threatens the country's bid to join the European Union by 2007.

Newly elected President Traian Basescu and his government have made fighting corruption a top priority.

Basescu recently criticized police for cooperating with and protecting criminals. He said corruption endangered national security and he threatened to dismiss top officials if no progress is made in the next six months in fighting corruption and other crimes.

Copyright © 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Presentation of the global 2005 Corruption Perception Index(CPI)

Izvještaji za Medije ● 09 Jula 2006

CPI is produced using the same methodology and this year it incorporated 159 countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina for the third successive year. A similar presentation will be held throughout the globe simultaneously.

The annual CPI is one of the most respected indicators used by politicians, donors, analysts and many other decisionmakers in assessing risks associated with dealing with or operating in a country and it is directly proportional to economic development and poverty reduction indicators.

Presentation for Bosnia and Herzegovina will be held by Mr. Boris Divjak, Chair of the Board of Directors of Transparency International BiH on 18 October 2005 at 10:30 in Holiday Inn Hotel, Sarajevo. On this ocassion TI BiH will present its analysis of the corruption score for the BiH institutions and elaborate on the position of this country in this year’s CPI.

Europe : Journalist awarded for uncovering EU scandals

Izvještaji za Medije ● 09 Jula 2006

The former Brussels correspondent of German magazine Stern, Hans-Martin Tillack, has been awarded the 30,000 euro Leipzig “Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media” for his reports on corruption and democratic deficits within the EU institutions. Mr Tillack was awarded the price jointly with famous American journalist Seymour M. Hersh, reporter for Financial Times Deutschland in Afghanistan and founder of the ‘Free Press Initiative’, Britta Petersen, and Russian expert on Chechnya, Anna Politkovskaya, who was poisoned in an attempt to stop her from publishing critical reports.

Following his story on corruption in the EU statistical office, Eurostat, in March 2004 Belgian police arrested Mr Tillack for allegedly bribing officials. His office was searched while he was detained and interrogated without being allowed to contact anybody. The judicial battle between Mr Tillack and the EU authorities is still ongoing.

On 24 December, Mr Tillack appealed a decision by the EU Court of First Instance to not stop the European Commission and EU anti-fraud office from seeking to access the files that the Belgian police seized.

The Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig is awarding the ‘Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media’ for the fifth time.

The award honours journalists and media that take great risks, show personal commitment, courage and democratic convictions to protect and foster the freedom of the press.

The prizes will be handed out at a ceremony on 28 April 2005 in Leipzig.

Copyright Euobserver

Transparency International BiH presents report for 2004.

Izvještaji za Medije ● 08 Jula 2006

TI stated that the brunt of the responsibility for this situation lies with the parties and individuals in power, but the responsibility of the international community, especially OHR, can also be brought into question.

The institution that entirely or partially performs constitutional, legislative, executive and judicial authority with practically limitless powers should at least accept a part of the responsibility for the situation in BiH.

TI global researches clearly show that BiH is joining the part of the world with uncontrollable corruption and the rule of organised crime.

BiH has dropped from position 70 in 2003 to 82 in 2004 on the list ranking countries from the “cleanest” to the “most corrupt”. Claims on links between political elites and organised crime have also been confirmed which has a negative impact on the business environment and the influx of foreign investments.

At a conference held in Meridil, Mexico, on the occasion of December 9, the International Anti-corruption Day, it was stated that BiH has still not signed the UN Convention on Fighting Corruption. Extremely pessimistic assessments about the situation in BiH were also heard at the conference, including the loss of 1,5 billion KM to corruption, that the state will go bankrupt by 2006, more than 80 million KM ending up in pockets of corrupt individuals because of intransparent public purchase procedures etc.

TI also marked the fourth year of its activities in BiH. In 2005 it will focus its activities on strengthening mechanisms for preventing conflict of interest, freedom of access to information, fighting corruption in education, raising awareness on active participation in the fight against corruption and providing legal assistance to citizens who were damaged by such actions of the authorities.

Copyright FENA

BiH signs UN Convention against Corruption

Izvještaji za Medije ● 08 Jula 2006

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BiH signs UN Convention against Corruption